Browns fans the Big winners
Cleveland makes boldest move by dealing for OBJ as NFL free-agent season kicks off
That Monty Python Yorkshireman, who bragged that his childhood was so tough he had to wake up half an hour before he went to bed, must be running 2019 NFL free agency.
Because the most compelling part of it finished before it even started.
By 4 p.m. EDT Wednesday, when free agency officially began, most major free agents already had found new homes, per reports. Which made the NFL’s news release issued 50 minutes later quite comical, headlined: “Free agency signing period begins; 541 players become free agents.”
Ha. OK, sure.
Teams and player agents jumped the gun en masse this year in prearranging dozens of free-agent signings and trades involving high-profile players, even though only preliminary negotiations technically were permitted between midday Monday and the start of the new league year on Wednesday afternoon.
Here are my three top takeaways from all the gun-jumping transactions:
1.
Browns trade for Beckham Jr. This might go down as one of the most impactful trades in NFL history, for both teams, as well as for one of the most talented receivers the league has ever seen.
On Tuesday evening the Giants sent Odell Beckham to Cleveland for safety Jabrill Peppers, the Browns’ 2019 first-round draft pick (17th overall) and the Browns’ second of two 2019 third-round picks (95th overall). Social media promptly blew up. Livid Giants fans screamed their team didn’t get nearly enough compensation for OBJ. And they’re probably right.
Ecstatic Browns fans, meantime, strutted all night, then again all day Wednesday on Twitter. Indeed, the words “Browns” and “Super Bowl” appeared in the same tweets without sarcasm, over and over.
That’s premature, at least in the short term. How about making the playoffs first? But the dichotomy to their reaction compared to those poor, short-suffering Giants fans was something to see.
Cleveland is now a solid 2019 playoff contender, perhaps even the favourite to win the AFC North. And New York is now in full free-fall.
Giants GM Dave Gettleman and principal owner John Mara deserve all the criticisms.
Just a year ago, their plan was to go all-in behind aging quarterback Eli Manning and win for the present.
After that plan proved disastrous, they’re now clearing the decks for a complete rebuild, to the point there’s little point in even keeping Manning, really.
2.
Bell signs with Jets
New York’s talent-deprived offence clearly gets a jolting upgrade with the acquisition of former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell, who with his agent in the wee hours of Wednesday agreed to terms.
The runner renowned for his on-field patience in finding a hole to bolt through sure displayed it off the field in trying to land a monster contract.
Alas, it appears his gamble didn’t pay off. Refusing to sign his second consecutive franchise tag with the Steelers in 2018, and withholding his services all year, might have saved him some wear and tear. But he’ll probably never get that fully guaranteed $14.45 million back that he would have earned otherwise.
According to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the 27-year-old Bell rejected the Steelers’ long-term offer last year of $70 million over five years ($14 million per-year average) with $33 million guaranteed, including $45 million from 2018-20.
Instead, Bell and his agent gambled on waiting for a far more lucrative deal this month. But apparently few teams were interested in anything approaching that kind of coin.
Bell wound up agreeing to these terms with the Jets: $52.5 million over four years ($13.13 million average) with $35 million guaranteed.
This might go down as one of the most impactful trades in NFL history, for both teams, as well as for one of the most talented receivers the league has ever seen.
3.
Some things lost, and some things gained for Ravens
So much change for an NFL franchise that prides itself as much as any on stability. Players this week have come and gone like witches in Oz.
Former QB Joe Flacco is now officially traded to Denver, and the Ravens also either cut or let walk away four principal pieces of their NFL-best 2018 defence: safety Eric Weddle (now a Ram), edge rusher Za’Darius Smith (now a Packer) and linebackers Terrell Suggs (now a Cardinal) and C.J. Mosley (now at Jet).
But on Wednesday the Ravens signed perhaps the NFL’s best free safety this century, this side of Eric Reed: Earl Thomas, formerly with Seattle.
Baltimore on Wednesday also signed Mark Ingram, who appears to have considerably more left in the tank than most 29-year-old running backs.
And compared to Bell, the Ravens got Ingram at a bargain: $15 million over three years.
It might well turn out that in the run-dependent Ravens attack, Ingram winds up as impactful a March acquisition in 2019 as anyone.